Love is Just a Potion Away
by gladheonsleeps
Summary: Lily Evans finds she can't simply sit back and watch Regulus Black get drawn into the depravity and violence of the group calling themselves the 'Death Eaters', the fact that she keeps thinking about what he would look like as she kissed him awake in the morning was besides the point -but while we're on the subject, perhaps having two perfect boyfriends may better than one
1. Chapter 1

_Hi! I have been writing fan fic for three years now in the Thor/mcu sandbox and have recently been writing some HP fun . I have a number of long fics of far greater quality than this in the runnings but this was one of those fics you write in a day to make yourself feel better, sometimes the comfort fic you want hasn't been written yet so you have to write it yourself . as such I'm aware it isn't the best quality fic I've ever written and is full of fluff and deus ex machina and unrealisitc things, but I'm down for that._

 _I hope you enjoy!_

 _(Oh and I'm just trying to remember how to post on so if the formatting goes haywire please drop me a line to let me know!)_

 ** _This is a transformitive work based on the books by JK Rowling and I do not claim to own any of the characters within . I do have some ideas about food and flavours and magic but that is all_**

Light streamed through the windows in the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on a Tuesday like any other. Breakfast was as chaotic as usual as the infamous bloody Marauders flopped down around the Gryffindor table, bed hair abounding and sleepy eyed enough for Lily Evans to know there had undoubtedly been mischief of some description wrought the night before.

Which was great really, she loved nothing more of a Tuesday than trailing around after the four most talented wizards in school cleaning up after their little games. Of course once the fun was had they never lifted a finger to help with the fallout unless they were given detention.

She huffed a sigh and rolled her eyes; all that didn't stop her from melting a little as James leaned over to kiss her on the temple, and then nuzzled in to kiss his favourite spot which was on her left eyelid for some reason. But honestly she was only a witch, and he was all soft and sleepy and still warm from his bed. He was always the most free with his affection in the morning. After he'd had his first cup of tea (white, as in _super_ milky with two teaspoons of sugar) his affection took on the more exhibitionist quality she'd been trying to cure him of.

She knew now that his affection was always in earnest, he still felt like he had to perform it grandly for some reason she still had no clue about. The boy was romantic and adorable as all hells when she got him alone, or when he wasn't making some big plan for another public pronouncement of his feelings.

It's not like everyone in the castle, the Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade combined didn't all know about James Potter's Love with a capital L for Lily Evans.

But as he picked through the fruit bowl, carefully cutting each choice into pieces (she always accidentally squished the stone fruit trying to get the seed out) and sprinkled it with a special cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, cardamom, orange blossom and rose petal mixture his mum sent him via owl and placed it in front of her she knew she was in it for keeps. She gave him a slow kiss on the mouth in thanks, nibbling at his lips for a moment and causing him hum happily while Peter made gagging noises and Sirius wrapped his long arms around their heads so their heads knocked and they couldn't move apart.

So of course James pulled her tighter against him and gave her a good snog.

She moaned only loud enough for Sirius to hear and he jumped back as if he'd been burned.

Once they were released James chuckled and started preparing his own breakfast, porridge with more fruit and the cinnamon mixture with. "Morning love, sleep well?" He husked finally, and she melted a little more. Damn that sexy morning voice, how was one head girl supposed to act properly when she had to deal with this?

"I did actually, how about you?" She asked sweetly as she narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to lie to her or omit any mischief related truth at any rate.

But his reaction wasn't what she'd come to expect from conversations like this. James face lost its happy glow and his eyes flicked over to take in Sirius, who was no longer laughing and was instead staring at the Slytherin table rather miserably.

Lily's eyebrows rose in question and she opened her mouth to ask about it but James tugged on her wrist softly and shook his head. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear "Not here. Meet you in our lounge for free period?"

Lily looked from James to Sirius to his hand that seemed to be choking Remus' to death, to the Slytherin table, where one particular sixth year prefect with perfect hair and eyes that made her think about forbidden things was sporting significant bruising to his face and a badly split lip. He was gingerly trying to eat and wasn't really succeeding very well, particularly while obviously trying to ignore sneered jeers from his housemates.

She found that there was a lump in her throat she couldn't swallow and tears stung her eyes at the sight of the brutal bruising all over Regulus Black's face. He was, she noticed, only using one hand to eat, cradling the other in his lap.

He looked miserable.

Lily glanced at James' knuckles and then at Sirius' and even Remus and Peter's and none of them had any of the tell tale swelling or bruising that indicated they'd exchanged blows with anyone the night before.

She couldn't help her eyes from immediately looking for Severus, who was whole and hearty and sporting only the usual scowl as he held her gaze for a moment before sliding away, which she'd learned could mean anything really.

All she knew was that scowl was a mask. Whether it covered concern for his- not friend apparently, but _'ally'_ (boys were so ridiculous)- or whether it covered anger or anything else she didn't know.

The boys weren't sitting next to one another. Severus was with his fellow seventh years and Regulus was by himself, slowly making his way through his soft boiled eggs and toast.

Lily turned to James and nodded before she gave him another soft kiss and then she rose to head to the location of their class, readying herself for an ambush.

She held no respect for the arts of divination but she could not ignore the strong sense of foreboding and a feel as the air almost thickened with the feeling that always seemed to be a precursor to the type of school-wide drama where people got severely hurt.

Lily jumped Regulus in the hall, heading to their first shared class, Ancient Runes. She grabbed his shoulder firmly and pulled him aside next to a suit of armour.

She went for a professional tone that she'd learned from Professor McGonagall herself, knowing well that they weren't friends and the kid would bolt at any insinuation that he needed help of any kind, particularly from a _mudblood_.

But, she was Head Girl and Regulus was a prefect, it was only natural to be concerned. "Anything going on that I need to know, Black?" She asked coolly, trying to catalogue his hurts without letting on how she felt about it personally (like she wanted to burn the Slytherin dorms to the ground and set unforgivables on the ones who did this. She was working on her temper but it was a work in progress), "You haven't been fighting in the halls have you? It's not exactly the behaviour befitting of a prefect. Will this be a problem?"

He scowled, the expression marring his beautific features, and shook his head. "It was a private matter; it won't happen again, _Evans_." He said quietly, not meeting her eyes. Really, for a Slytherin he was fairly unsubtle. But then she thought of who he was related to and decided this was probably extremely restrained for a member of the ultra dramatic Black family.

She nodded. "Have you been up to see Madam Pomfrey to have that cheek and…" she glanced down to see him tucking a swollen wrist away. The fine bones of his forearm were broken. She sighed "...wrist? Looked at?" She leaned in a little closer to inspect the worst part of the swelling. The bruising on his cheekbone was really quite bad. She thought it might have actually been broken. She wondered if it had been a fist at all or whether he'd been bludgeoned with an object.

Where had Slughorn been?

He stiffened, and carefully shook his head, telling her more than he wished to. "I don't-"

Lily tsked and pulled out her wand. "Regulus you're _not_ this stupid. At least let me fix it. I can't have a prefect walking around with a broken cheekbone and looking like he's been participating in reckless behaviour."

He stilled, something like fear in his eyes as two seventh year Slytherins approached, openly staring and Lily broke a little. She wondered how long he'd been terrorised by his housemates, because that was absolutely what she was looking at.

Ignoring them, she grabbed his shoulder, holding him still and preventing him from leaving, hating herself for the intrusion on his person but knowing she couldn't let him sit through class with that injury.

She raised her wand and he stifled a flinch back. She shook her head softly, steeled herself and cleared her mind before she made a precise wand movement and said " _Episkey_."

They could hear the bone snap back into place and she bit back her worry, knowing it wouldn't be appreciated.

His eyes closed and his jaw stiffened, she could see his knuckles from where he held his bag were white, but within a moment he let out a breath and opened his eyes, silently willing her to get his wrist over with.

She carefully held his arm still by the elbow, once again taking a breath and letting it out before performing the spell twice more for the radius and ulna.

He rotated his wrist experimentally before whispering "Thank you." He was still as a winter lake, but when he finally met her gaze the grey eyes said a thousand things before he flicked them away again.

"No need to thank me," she said coolly, loud enough so that the Slytherins she could see watching from the corner of her eye could hear. "I can't afford you missing your shift for rounds tonight. Now get to class and no more fights, Mr Black, fifteen points from Slytherin."

She felt like such a bitch until she saw him soften minutely as they both slipped into the classroom with a minute to spare.

She refused to let herself look at him throughout the lesson, even as she found it hard to concentrate through her worry. He'd probably get enough grief for letting a _mudblood_ touch him, and it was best to keep it at that for his own safety.

After all, they had broken his arm. They weren't exactly playing nice.

As soon as they were dismissed she hurried to the head students' lounge to see James in their break, hoping he had information.

This was how they'd gotten to know one another after all. She used to bribe the marauders for information on the going on of the school as well as the little things that only purebloods knew and muggleborns were never told; and she'd let them make their more harmless mischief and throw a few parties with only a token amount of trouble.

Mischief makers were, it happened, wells of information. They knew everything from where the kitchens and laundry were to what kind of socks Professor Flitwick preferred (alpaca wool, dyed a different colour for everyday of the week), which shortbreads were 'Minnie's' favourites (they were actually homemade by her older brother and they'd decided together to never ever fuck with them ever, but once Sirius tried to make some similar as a gift and she cried happy tears that James only saw because he was hiding under the invisibility cloak), to how often Frank Longbottom wrote to his mother, (every Sunday, sometimes on Wednesday) and why Dumbledore likes lollies so much (you don't want to know). Pranks needed a lot of research, and Lily had done so well as a prefect because she wasn't too good a person to use what was available to her.

And James was eventually rewarded for his eagerness to please because over the years she fell completely in love with him during those little information gathering sessions. It had been hard not to with his constant attention to detail and the little asides he had about how they used that information for good just as often as for mischief. She couldn't have helped falling for him after that, even though she certainly hadn't planned for it. She'd planned against it in fact.

Especially after he had stopped bringing her lilies and started bringing lilacs and violets.

When she came through the door he was sitting on the side of the couch, watching for her, a worried look on his face which changed to relief as she entered and flicked the lock.

He stood up and pulled her into a fierce kiss and she relaxed once she was in his arms, surrounded by his comforting scent. "Mmmmm. Hey." She said softly, licking her lips. His hazel eyes traced the movement before he leaned in to kiss her again as if he couldn't help it.

She wove her hand in his curls at the back of his head and held him there for a moment, taking comfort in his closeness and his comforting scent surrounding her. He always smelled like coconut and it was very pleasant, if a little unexpected in the middle of Scotland.

"Hi love." He said, adjusting his glasses and leading her around to sit down and offered her a biscuit from a plate he must have pilfered from the kitchens. He also handed her a cup of tea he had ready for her. Pranksters were nothing if not thorough. "I heard you fixed up the little Black, Is he alright?"

Lily stilled. Things between the Marauders and Regulus hadn't ever been particularly friendly. Considering the strength of the Gryffindor boys' loyalty in general, Lily had always found Sirius' emphatic dislike for his own brother rather troubling.

She'd never had one problem with Regulus, and he'd been a prefect for four years. She _knew_ he was a Black, and she knew who his friends were; she had no delusions that he would ever be anything other than distantly polite to her, but she'd seen enough evidence to believe that he genuinely disagreed with the opinions of his bigoted friends and family, and if given half a chance could grow into a truly good person.

When she looked at him (after marvelling at how jaw dropping beautiful he was and then scolding herself for the thought) she did not see the hateful pureblood brat that Sirius professed him to be. Instead she saw a scared kid who had learned Sirius' lessons better than Sirius ever had.

She'd heard about what his family had done to the elder brother. He'd almost died. Ended up comatose and in hospital for about two weeks over the summer. Sirius' mother and cousins had tortured him with the _cruciatus_ curse and then almost _killed_ him. Sirius liked to brush it off and act like it was no big deal but they all knew. _Everybody_ knew. And after that everybody knew what happened to purebloods who defended muggles. They used it as a warning, " _You wouldn't want to end up like that Black kid would you?_ " He had defended muggles and muggleborns too loudly and obnoxiously, and actually practiced what he preached, wearing muggle clothes and ridiculous hair clips that were meant for little girls, leather bomber jackets and glittering glomesh earrings and bell bottom jeans and baseball caps on the weekends.

He even found some roller skates once and sailed through the halls with Professor McGonagall running after him (though she was undoubtedly amused, Lily sure as hell had been). He drank Coca-Cola at parties when he wasn't drinking fire whiskey and made sure they had a crate of it when the marauders were hosting ('for the younguns'). He wrote his essays with pencils and biros and talked loud and often about the motorbike he was fixing up; everyone knew his enthusiasm for those without magic or new to it and now everyone knew what had been done to him because of it.

He still had the scars on his face and neck and chest to prove it, and because he was who he was most of the student body had seen them.

And Regulus, shy little bookish Regulus Black hadn't just heard of it, he'd been there. He'd been forced to watch as Sirius was tortured and beaten and had then snuck back after his family left his brother bleeding out on the rug and he'd applied as much first aid as he could get away with before he gave careful instructions to his house elf to teleport Sirius to St Mungos and then he'd lied and said that it was because he didn't want his beloved parents to go to Azkaban for such a worthless sod.

 _And then_ he'd spent an _entire_ summer stuck in the house where his brother had almost died and he pretended he wasn't terrified out of his mind.

James had said that Sirius had been surprised to hear of his brother's help and had decided after the fact that he'd done it for selfish reasons, but when Lily had heard the story she hadn't been surprised at all. He'd done similar for her (though not as drastic, thank Merlin) more than once when she'd been caught out alone and in the wrong place and the wrong time.

Twice he'd snuck up to her once the coast was clear and applied a counter curse to _levicorpus_ (somehow without looking at her knickers) and fetched her wand and quietly walked her back to Gryffindor tower. And once he'd applied first aid when she'd … that had been a bad day.

Lily had a target on her back as a muggleborn who consistently showed up purebloods. She knew she had to be the best as her employment options after graduation would already be poorer due to her lineage, or lack thereof. She adored potions as much as Severus did and Severus had always been terrified of not succeeding because of his half-blood status. How much worse would it be when her parents were catholic?

And so she worked. She worked hard and she got results. And then there was the little fact that she was loudly advertised as someone that the blood traitor James Potter cared about, and so she was a target a few times over.

She could mostly handle herself, but there had been times she'd been jumped in the halls and in those moments Regulus Black had helped her out at risk to himself.

She'd heard a few stories over the years of it happening to other muggleborns as well. She'd always sworn them to secrecy, telling them he wouldn't be able to help anyone else if word got out, that the best way to protect him wasn't to publicly defend him when he was derided, nor to thank him where they could be seen or heard but to leave him alone and play it cool, so he wasn't found out for the good person he was.

It wasn't the Gryffindor way, but as she had told them, he wasn't Gryffindor.

It was so backwards and she'd hated it, because he was always so alone. Alone except for Severus, and she knew all about how limited that particular friendship could be. She knew that there were reasons, but it didn't change the fact that Severus would only defend you so far. He was in too tenuous a position to put his neck out very far at all.

But that was an entirely different subject. Today when she saw him broken and bloody and undoubtedly hexed and cursed to all hell, her blood had run cold because she _knew_ that Regulus Black's cover had been blown.

So when James asked how he was, she couldn't help it, she burst into tears. Her favourite closet defender had been _beaten_ , and she felt like it was for her, that somehow it was her fault, even though that was irrational and it was so much more complicated than that.

"Lily? Love?" James asked; wringing his hands before he gently took her into his arms.

The duffer never knew what to do when she cried, even though he was a crier too.

She got a hold of herself quickly, and gave him a squeeze before taking the offered hanky and blowing her nose and asked what had actually happened.

Apparently the night before James and the marauders had been too late to intervene when a crowd of 'Death Eaters' as they were calling themselves, had been having a little… fun at the expense of a talented muggleborn Ravenclaw fifth year. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had still been at the other end of the hall as Regulus stepped in front of the _cruciatus_ curse, not willing to let the kid suffer a moment more.

The marauders had intervened, thinking that that would be that but apparently the fun had continued once the Slytherins reached the privacy of their common room, only this time it wasn't a Ravenclaw at the end of their wands.

James looked completely confused by Regulus' apparently out of character behaviour and Lily sighed and told him what she hadn't when they had talked about Sirius' story. "He is a very good person in a very bad place and they'll kill him James! They'll either kill him now or they'll force him to be one of them and he'll die compromising his own morals and it's just… I'm so worried for him! He's just a kid!"

James looked serious. "So's Mulciber and everyone else. They don't care if he's a kid because they are too."

She started crying again.

When she visited the ladies bathroom before their next class she realised why she had been _quite_ so emotional, swearing and having to rush back to her room to get supplies to deal with Aunt Flo, but the sentiment still stood, unfortunately. Regulus Black was in trouble, and no one could think of anything they could do to help, not in any serious way. Not in any way that would matter.

They were almost too far to the light. Each one in their group was either a muggleborn or had pronounced their support for muggles so loudly and often that if any of them were seen talking to the sixth year _everyone_ would notice.

They were all sitting at breakfast the next day when Sirius threw down his fork. "It would be better if he just… said it, you know?"

James finished his mouthful before asking "Better if who said what?"

Sirius shrugged and said "Reggie. It's not like no one knows, everyone saw him take that curse for that kid. Now he can't go anywhere without being watched and threatened. Why can't he just admit he's a blood traitor and tell them to fuck off? Why does he care what they think?"

Lily placed her knife and fork on the table. "He probably doesn't think that's an option." She said carefully.

Sirius looked at her and she could see the dismissal before he said "Of course it's an option! It's what I did. He's just too weak to do it."

Lily stood. She knew that Sirius cared but he was honestly such an asshole sometimes.

She grabbed her bag to leave, and Sirius sighed "Lily-"

She ignored him and left for her classes. She didn't have the time to sit and spell out all of the things it would take for Sirius to get it, and she certainly was not going to sit and listen to their victim blaming shit again.

Not after Severus.

Severus turned up at their door of the Student Heads' common room after midnight that night, knocking almost too quietly to be heard.

James actually growled when he opened the door and Lily pretty much agreed with him, but Severus begged them to let him in "This- isn't about me! Please. Potter you-" his face turned sour and a little pained but he continued. "You helped me _that night_. I don't like you, actually I hate you-"

"Aw, I hate you too!" James gushed and Severus sighed painfully like he was dying.

"Yes. Nevertheless, you're the only one I could come to with this." They all stared at each other before James eventually stepped back and let Lily's ex-best friend into their space.

Severus sighed again, "Regulus needs out. He needs an exit or he's just going keep pretending it's fine and good and get in too deep and slip up and get himself killed...and we know it's not me that can help him."

Lily and James both stared.

Sure they'd just been saying the same thing the day before but this was _Severus_. "Sev, Regulus isn't a Gryffindor. He's a Slytherin, he's not just going to go and out himself as a blood traitor, and they're not just going to let the Black heir leave."

Severus gave a nod. "True. This is why his hand must be forced."

Lily and James both stared.

The silence stretched, and the boys just stared at one another as if having a silent argument, and Lily took a moment to wonder at the lack of insults and hexes being thrown. Even so she was the one to break the silence. "How?"

Severus sighed, and hunched over, looking guilty. "I've got a plan, but you're not going to like it."


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning at breakfast when Lily was pouring herself a second cup of coffee (strong, hot, with a dollop of cream and a dash of cinnamon) a small, expensive looking envelope was thrown onto her empty plate by rather glorious black owl that Lily would never admit that she recognised.

Her eyebrows rose; she didn't often get correspondence as her muggle parents weren't really the letter writing kind, and they _hated_ owls, and they hated spending money even more. She certainly never received anything that looked like _this_. There was a beautifully hand drawn water lily next to a bunch of lilac in green ink on the front. She raised her eyebrows.

Who had noticed lilacs were her favourite flower? Everyone always went for lilies which were more likely to piss her off than anything…though the waterlily got a pass; she had to admit they were cool.

She opened the envelope and marvelled at the luxurious stationery and the green wax seal with a lion and a star on it.

She unfolded the small note and read in a precise, curving hand,

 _I, Regulus Articus Black hereby formally request the hand of Miss Lily Beatrix Evans in courtship_

 _Please say yes- R.A.B._

She gaped, not quite comprehending what she was reading, and barely registering one warm delicious coconut smelling boyfriend and one Sirius Black sitting on either side of her and looking over her shoulder "WHAT?" Sirius shouted, standing right back up again.

James only kissed her on her temple and asked "What're you going to say?" As he placed a serving of pancakes and bacon and some apricots onto her empty plate before serving himself a full English breakfast.

"I suppose two perfect boyfriends _could_ be better than one." She mused. "How do I accept?"

James kissed her cheek with a smile. "Good. You've got so much love to give and you deserve it all back with interest." He tipped her chin so they could kiss properly. "You just tap it with your wand and say that you accept."

Lily smiled and pulled out her wand but Sirius covered the card with one giant hand. "Lily, what-"

But she elbowed him in the gut and pulled her card free, quickly tapping and accepting it before Sirius could intervene properly. It was honestly a good thing he was such a mess in the morning or she might have had some trouble.

The card grew warm and glowed a pretty lilac colour, making Lily smile.

She looked up to see Regulus watching her avidly and she couldn't help the small flip in her stomach as he blushed a charming shade of pink even as he looked rather exultant. She held his gaze as she telegraphed kissing the card and blowing it in his direction.

Sirius squawked in indignation even as James grinned and kissed her on the cheek again and said "You're so hot," as the room erupted into a chaos that only Professor McGonagall could break up, though even she couldn't entirely quell the excitement that stuck around all day.

There were fights in the halls, Slytherins and Gryffindors hexing one another as if it was the lead up to a heated quidditch match. And then there were the Slytherins viciously fighting amongst themselves, not caring who got caught in the crossfire and showing that there was far less house unity than it looked on the surface.

Lily had never been called a mudblood _quite_ so many times in a day before but she could live with it just fine while she saw _Slytherins_ defending her publically for the first time in her life.

Houses had to close ranks around all of their muggleborn members; prefects and classmates escorting them to each lesson but most of them didn't seem to mind so much as others became more vocal about defending them.

There did seem to be others though, purebloods who it seemed had been keeping their opinions to themselves in order to lay low before, but held their tongues no longer.

Even the marauders weren't safe from the divide as Peter Pettigrew completely shocked his friends with some of his own ideas about blood purity and muggleborns' place in society, breaking James' heart as he admitted the reasons he'd never really liked Lily and thought his friend could do 'better'.

It wasn't just about blood politics either; there were quite a number of people of all genders who'd been hoping for a piece of Regulus Black. He was a star quidditch player after all, by far the best Seeker and flew with the type of flair that made both girls and boys think of how transferrable such skills might be. He was also of course rather famously handsome, so it was safe to say she got a lot of practice throwing up personal and atmospheric shields that afternoon, as did her friends; but again it wasn't like she'd never had that before.

In the afternoon just before lunch a hallway filled with people openly stared as Regulus met them in the hall and kissed Lily Evan's hand before turning to shake James Potter's, even as the older boy had his arm draped around their apparently happily shared girlfriend.

The hall was filled with scandalised expressions and pearl clutching as students grappled with the reality of their student heads in a polyamorous courtship with the scion of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black.

The professors mostly rolled their eyes or looked amused, watching the drama unfold and secretly approving of Regulus Black's esteem for the brightest witch in school. They obviously didn't approve of the violent reactions by certain members of the student body however, and had a hard time trying to keep track of the unrest and keeping all of their students safe from harm.

In runes and arithmancy, the two classes Regulus shared with seventh years he sat by Lily's side and gave her a happy smile when she held his hand, biting his lip and blushing a little when she made sure their thighs were touching under the table.

She thought the heat from their touch might light her hair on fire. She wondered if he could hear her heart beating. He smelled like bergamot, she realised, and she wanted to lick his skin.

She couldn't help the blush of her own cheeks as he leaned close to quietly discuss a translation they were working on. He had always been a little breathtaking when he was working out complex problems, and she soon found out it was almost unbearably hot to see him thinking from up close. She liked watching his hands as he wrote things out in his beautiful script with the hand that wasn't holding her own, his thumb stroking her knuckles absently and surprising her with his talent for incidental touch.

By dinner time the school was a different place than it had been that morning. Lines had been drawn in the sand. While several couples had broken up, others had begun as purebloods were inspired by Regulus' bravery and professed their feelings to muggleborns or half bloods that they'd fancied all year, sometimes even longer.

Peter Pettigrew was summarily kicked out of the marauders dorm room as Frank Longbottom was begged to replace him.

Regulus, Lily and James had stared at one another across the hall all dinner, and Lily found her appetite disappear for the giddy butterflies in her stomach. She has always hated that love affected one's appetite, it seemed so counterproductive really.

James convinced her to eat an apple, feeding her piece by piece like a child.

After dinner Lily trailed back to her room alone as James went to spend time with his friends and deal with the Peter situation before he had to go on rounds.

Lily had just finished laying out her stationary on the table to her own exacting preference, and she was glad that James wasn't there to knock things out of place just so see her annoyance as he liked to do. She'd just placed her fountain pen and ink pot into perfect position perpendicular to the top of her parchment, just how she liked it when there was a timid knock on her door.

She opened it to a nervous looking Regulus and couldn't help her pleased grin, "Hi! What a lovely surprise!" She purred, and heard some giggles and whispers of indignation from around the corner where she spotted a group of little spies from different factions which made her roll her eyes.

She opened the door wider and he stepped inside, turning even redder. She bit back a laugh at his adorable nervousness as she closed the door behind him.

When she turned to him with eyebrows raised in question he nervously cleared his throat. "I'm so sorry to bother you but I -uh- I really need to get this History essay done and the common room and library-"

Lily smiled sadly and shrugged, collapsing into her own chair and motioned towards the empty half of the table. "Feel free to do it here, Jamie is on patrol tonight and he actually generally likes to do his homework on the floor so it's no trouble for you to study here at all."

He looked shocked and a little appalled and Lily laughed, "I _know_ , he's an animal."

Regulus huffed a laugh and sat in the chair across from her. "He is brilliant though. I'm both surprised to hear that he does homework at all and scared to think of how well he'd be doing if he did it properly. His grades are amazing, considering."

Lily nodded, "Right? Your brother and Remus too. Imagine what they could do if they didn't spend more time making trouble than studying?" He stiffened at the mention of his brother but she continued before he could say anything. "I guess then we'd have competition for top of the class right?"

Regulus blushed and stared at the table as he said "I'm not-"

Lily shook her head, "You can't fool me Regulus, I see all the prefects' scores; you're a whip."

He didn't look all that happy despite the compliment and she tried to find a less sensitive subject. She saw the envelope with the flowers on it peeking out of one of her books where she'd tucked it as a bookmark. "So do you like to draw?" She blurted out, and was relieved when his eyes grew wider in surprise and his mouth ticked up at the corner.

"I- my parents think it's a waste of time but I really- I find it relaxing."

Lily nodded. "I find the same thing with baking or knitting." His smile softened.

They settled in to work then, both scribbling away furiously (him _far_ neater than her), the rhythm interrupted sporadically by one of them furiously searching a book for something before going back to their essay.

Lily caught herself peering up at him surreptitiously, enjoying the view of him nibbling on his lip in concentration.

She caught herself wishing he really was courting her.

She finished before he did, near on one in the morning, and found she couldn't keep her eyes open. She paused on her way to her tiny comfortable room for bed, telling him that he was welcome to stay as long as he needed and she paused in a bout of insanity to give him a soft kiss on his hair. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

He gazed up at her in surprise looking like it was the first time he'd been kissed there by anyone in a long time, which broke her heart all over again and made her want to raze Black Manor with fiendfyre.

When Lily woke in the morning she was surprised to find him curled up and sleeping on the couch much like a large cat. He barely fit on it, but made it look comfortable all the same. He wasn't the tallest boy in the world at 5'9" but his shoulders were deliciously wide at that angle and she got an excellent look at his biceps where the sleeves of his borrowed marle t-shirt were riding up his arm. Lily applauded James for lending him one that was quite so small.

She snorted softly. Her Jamie was a bisexual and he was such an opportunistic perve -and Lily didn't mind one little bit.

She bit her lip as she let her eyes wander over the sleeping Slytherin Seeker. While his features were always angelic the occlumency mask he was required to sport as part of the expected role as the Black heir rendered his expression still and unreadable. She saw that in rest his face was rendered completely cherubic, his flawless skin almost glowing in the morning light with his long fine lashes fluttering softly on his pale cheeks, his rosy lips slightly parted to allow for the small puffing breaths he was making and his strong dark brows furrowed a little as he dreamed. His hands grasped at the soft woollen blanket that she had knitted the muggle way for James last Christmas even though she was still pretending she hated him at the time. The idea that James had lent him pyjamas and tucked him in with a favourite blanket made Lily smile.

One of James's snitches had escaped overnight and was fluttering by Regulus' head. She watched as he mumbled something in his sleep and snatched it out of the air proving that he really could catch a snitch in his sleep like his avid fans (who were not just in Slytherin which was highly unusual) always said. The entire scene was too adorable for words.

Lily wished she could climb onto the couch and cuddle him.

She wished she could kiss him awake.

She wished she could do...more than that...

She knew she was impossibly greedy because the image in her head involved her sandwiched between _two_ sleepy cuddly boys instead of just her boyfriend.

 _It's not real;_ she scolded herself _he's on_ _amortentia_ _he cannot consent._

She didn't know whether to be grateful or regretful that even on a love potion Regulus was sweetly romantic and respectful and shy instead of obnoxious and pushy, like some people got. Not because she didn't want it, but because she was afraid she wouldn't be strong enough to refuse him anything.

James had been shocked, because when Sirius had been spiked with the potion on Valentine's day a few years before he'd leapt onto the breakfast table and declared his love for the girl loudly and gotten into three fist fights within the hour -but the two brothers were wildly different. To Regulus, sending a request for a formal courtship was akin to him leaping onto a table and yelling. It was public and very serious, and apparently magically binding.

Severus and Lily would have words when all of this was over, hopefully Regulus would forgive them and know how to break the binding.

Not that they had much of a choice, it had been between wooing a muggleborn or getting cosy with a werewolf and get bitten, and that wasn't a real choice because Lily would kiss Mulciber himself before letting Remus get expelled for biting someone, let alone letting someone she cared about (or even someone she hated) having to go through what Remus went through every month.

She sighed and quietly moved about making herself a coffee with cardamom and cream and reading through her essay from the night before, wanting to check it over once more before handing it in. She jumped and squeaked when a warm calloused hand softly squeezed her shoulder.

At her reaction the hand disappeared and she instantly regretted it. She turned and took Regulus' hand in her own in apology, running her finger over his broom calluses, making him flush at her attention. "Good morning. I hope the couch was comfortable enough. I'm sorry it's so small."

He nodded slowly, yawning and then shook his head. She took that to mean the couch was fine.

Lily suppressed a winsome sigh. Regulus looked just as good, if not _better_ all sleep rumpled as James did. It wasn't _fair_. His beautiful fine hair that she had never seen out of place- even when he was hanging upside down from his broom chasing a snitch- was everywhere, all wavy and fluffy, practically floating as it surrounded his head like a soft, dark halo and she had to physically stop herself from burying her hands in it and pulling his face to her own to snog the stuffing out of him.

Instead she let go of his hand and asked him if he wanted a cup of tea.

His silver-grey eyes were just so beautiful when he was sleepily blinking at her, obviously at least a little bit of a mess in the morning like his brother. Her self control slipped and she stole a soft kiss before she handed him his tea and the look of shocked pleasure on his face as his eyes fluttered shut had her forgetting to breathe.

 _It's not real_ she reminded herself. She had literally just _stolen_ a kiss. Severus had trusted her to keep him safe and she was thieving affection like some rapey criminal.

She bit her lip and watched him fix his tea, filing away the information (no sugar and just the tiniest dash of milk, perhaps a tablespoon if that) for next time. The only affection she would be engaging in from now on would be fixing him a damn fine cup of tea, and possibly a biscuit or two. And cake; he could really do with some fattening up.

James stumbled out of his room with no shirt and an obvious morning wood in his grey track pants and she tried not to notice the surprised but unmistakable look of lust that flashed on Regulus' face as he watched her take her sexual frustration out on her boyfriend. His eyes lingered on James' ass as she snuck in a squeeze and she didn't call him on it. James' ass was particularly fine.

This was hard.

This was hard and weird.

Who saves someone from the Death Eaters or whatever they're called like _this_?

Sirius stole a gulp of her coffee at breakfast before she had a chance to drink it and collapsed on the floor, seizing and foaming at the mouth.

She remembered why they were doing this again as she shoved a bezoar into his mouth. Severus had insisted she always carry one with her back when they were friends; she never thought she'd have to use it, and definitely not on a pureblood.

She let Regulus hold her hand as they went up to the hospital wing and sat at his brother's bedside, feeling stiff and numb all over like she'd been petrified.

She wanted to kiss the look of panicked concern from his face as he gripped her arms saying "It was meant for you, it was meant for you!" she could see him split between concern for his brother and relief she was okay and hated amortentia even more than she usually did.

She pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the temple and whispered into his hair that he was worth the risk.

He didn't look like he believed her, but he didn't let her go.

At the Slytherin vs Ravenclaw quidditch match the next day there were more green scarves than usual. Students from different houses blatantly showed their support for the Slytherin Seeker who looked surprised and bewildered but pleased all the same. An unfortunate second year Hufflepuff was startled and dismayed when her particularly cute sign that must have taken a good while to charm was set on fire by Barty Crouch Jr and a brawl broke out in the stands, pausing only when a small figure in green shot into the sky at full speed and caught a glimmering golden handful.

The Slytherin locker room was filled with flowers and cards, a sight never seen before or after that fateful game.

Lily waited (hidden) for him to emerge after washing up. She smiled at the Happiness he radiated as they took the long way back to the castle, pausing for a little while when Lily pushed him against the wall and gave him a proper snog which he seemed to enjoy immensely if the noises he made were to be trusted.

But that there was just the thing.

They weren't to be trusted at all.

He was on a love potion.

She was evil. She was the worst, but even James had been impressed with the near vertical rocket move thing he'd pulled to catch the snitch. How could a girl resist after that?

She tugged on a dark lock of hair and mused that one of her boyfriends had hair that was too messy, and the other had hair that was too perfect.

He didn't seem to mind too much as she sunk her hands into it as she kissed him again.

They parted so that he could go celebrate with his house but Lily and James were called in to help break up a house-wide brawl shortly after.

Lily's ears were ringing when she saw a crumbled pile of black hair and pale limbs on the floor, green quidditch robes turned black with blood.

She sat waiting in the hospital wing for the second day in a row and cried hot tears as Madam Pomfrey repaired bones and mended gashes and forced blood replenishing potions down his throat behind a screen. Severus, James and Sirius sat by her side, waiting to hear that he was going to make it as she whimpered out her regrets and apologies between violent shuddering sobs.

James and Sirius soothed her, but Severus told her in that frank way of his that this was it; this was the break they were waiting for.

She couldn't agree that this was the goal. What kind of world did they live in that that was an aim in any way?

Sirius had lived up to his name as he shakily disagreed. Everyone had left him alone after he'd been sent to St Mungo's.

Lily had to jump in front of James so that the boys wouldn't get into a fight and get them kicked out of the ward.

After two hours Sirius was allowed to see his brother and then they were all sent off to bed. Lily had never seen Sirius so pale. And for the first time in her acquaintance with him he actually looked scared.

Breakfast the next morning was a rather sombre affair, though the room filled with whispers when Lily and James entered the hall. She received three death threats by owl and one very noteworthy one that made itself apparent when her cereal moved of its own volition and spelled out a warning that was entirely too clear in its intentions. She found that she wasn't very hungry after all.

Regulus was still sleeping when she went to visit.

She didn't touch him, knowing the amortentia would have worn off. Severus wouldn't have been stupid enough to try and slip him any with things as they stood.

But when he woke, it was her name on his lips coming out like a sigh. He blinked at her sleepily and pulled her hand to his lips weakly and kissed it. She didn't know how long she cried for, clinging to him as gently as possible, but when she was done his pillow was soaking wet and so were some strands of his hair.

He asked if she was alright.

He asked if he'd been kicked off the team.

He asked if he was disowned yet.

His voice was so quiet.

She didn't have any answers.

It turned out he had, in fact been disowned, disinherited and banished, and there was a formal request signed by over half of the Slytherin students requesting for Regulus Black to be moved to another house.

It was unprecedented.

Dumbledore reluctantly approved the request after a long talk with Regulus, the portraits in his office, and the sorting hat.

Mr and Mrs Potter came to visit that evening with a friendly house elf called Dolly who was carrying a wardrobe full of blue and bronze robes and a large tin of homemade ginger biscuits for which he thanked her kindly. The little elf cried and thanked him profusely for thanking her.

When he noticed everyone staring at him he shrugged, then winced. He liked house elves, apparently, "They're generally really interesting people." Lily fell a little more in love, and didn't know what to do with those feelings now that their plan had been fulfilled.

The Potters told Regulus that they were preparing a bedroom especially for him in their house and asked if he would honour them by choosing to come to live with them for as long as he needed a home.

Regulus had looked surprised, startled even, and quite shaken at the kind gesture but when Dolly begged him to come and told him all about her preparations for his room and the foods she wanted to make him he folded.

Mrs Potter had pulled the screen around his bed and chased them all out to have a private talk with the boy. Lily was about to refuse to move or leave him alone but Sirius encouraged her, "It's alright Lil, mum's a Black don't you know, he needs this."

Lily was surprised, but sure enough by the time Dorea had left, kissing James and Sirius and wrapping Lily in a warm hug that smelled like gardenia, telling her she was welcome to come and see her 'beaus' _plural_ over the holidays, Regulus seemed to be in a far better place. He even managed a shaky smile. "I think… I think that things will be alright."

Lily cried again, and Regulus didn't seem to know what to do. James gave him a very gentle commiserating pat on the shoulder, though he couldn't hide that his own eyes were a little glassy with tears, nor could he help sneaking in a sweet kiss to Regulus' eyelids when Sirius had his back turned.

If Regulus had a little bit more colour in his cheeks afterwards well, no one commented on it.

Eventually Hogwarts settled down after that day, the shock of a star quidditch player being cursed almost to death had a profound effect on the school. It became clear that the result wasn't quite the result those who had delivered the beating had been hoping for.

The wounds on Regulus body healed over and became fine silvery scars that decorated his pale skin like spider webs and somehow had the effect of making him _even more_ beautiful.

Likewise, the fissions that had been opened in the school body by the revelation of Regulus' apparent blood betrayal didn't go away, many of the divides that had occurred that week stuck; but the wounds did heal.

For many there was positive change. The bullies that had been happily terrorising people into line were no longer allowed so much freedom; more people stood up to them, and others backed them up, holding the line. This meant that some decided they no longer felt comfortable about the path they were on. Many found redemption.

There was much to be said for knowing where people stood; many a muggleborns left toxic relationships behind only to settle into something far healthier with someone far better suited to them.

The Marauders took a long time to get over Peter's betrayal, but they did eventually heal, and the three boys found that their newfound friendship with the infinitely kind Frank Longbottom to be of great value. They even let him set up a little shrine to Pan next to their own ramshackle shrine for Loki. They couldn't believe they'd overlooked how funny Frank could be, and they used their mischief for good rather than evil a lot more regularly with his influence.

Regulus continued to woo a rather bewildered Lily, though she had to admit he looked even better in blue than he had in green. She had never been able to refuse him a thing in her life; she sure as hell wasn't going to start now.

Eventually Severus admitted that Regulus had never been spiked with the love potion in the first place. Instead they'd out manoeuvred her and James, telling her it was a farce, all planned so that she'd let it happen with minimal over thinking. She would never have allowed it to be so public or even happen at all if she knew he really felt that way.

She had to agree. She was a seventeen year old witch after all. Who actually has the confidence to have two fit boyfriends when it took six years for her to even consider that James had been telling the truth about his feelings for her? She'd thought he was teasing her for so long, thinking herself plain and not worthy of the single-minded adoration the marauder had been professing to own.

The attentions of Regulus would have been no less incredible.

It had taken her quite a moment to take that information in, but after that moment she had kicked Severus out of the student heads' common room and dragged Regulus into her bedroom to celebrate his confirmed enthusiastic consent in an appropriate manner.

She made sure he consented enthusiastically several times that night, and he was very happy to acquiesce to her demands.

Very skilfully too, she was happy to find.

James made sure to tease them the next morning about forgetting silencing charms, and there was nothing in his manner at all that told them he was upset about them taking their relationship to the next level.

In fact he only really seemed a little cut up that he hadn't been invited to watch.

She wasn't the only one who thought the change in uniform suited Regulus. The Ravenclaw quidditch team were _thrilled_ to have him in their fold. Their Seeker Marlene McKinnon, who Regulus had so easily out-flown in that last match, was a seventh year, and the brand new raven was told in no uncertain terms he had a guaranteed position on the team for the following year. His injuries meant that he wouldn't be able to play for the rest of the current year, but he was content enough knowing there would be more quidditch in his future. He did insist on sitting in on training however, and Regulus found a fast friend in the other Seeker and her girlfriend, Dorkas Meadows who was learning healing and helped him get back on the broom in a carefully planned recovery schedule so that he didn't injure himself and ruin all his hard won healing.

Slytherin lost the quidditch final without their beloved pocket rocket, and there was a near mutiny in the house of snakes because of it.


	3. Chapter 3

James and Regulus grew ever closer, circling around one another using flirtatious teasing to cover up their soft incidental touches and bright watchful eyes until one evening Lily came back to their lounge after rounds to see her two boyfriends snogging on the couch. Both boys looked thoroughly debauched, their hair and clothes dishevelled by grasping hands and their pupils blown out enough to tell her they'd been at it for a while.

Lily only gave a happy sigh and plopped herself in between them, sighing with happiness when her boyfriends endeavoured to make her as delightfully rumpled as they were.

James was entirely too pleased with himself, happily gobbling up all of the extra affection having another significant other brought, never having even considered that he didn't deserve what was freely given. Regulus and Lily got there eventually as James was quite determined to have his affection received in kind, and had quite a number of ideas on how to teach them such a lesson.

Lily found that James liked the little noises Regulus made when he was pleasured just as much as she did and they both endeavoured to pull them out of him as much as they were able. Regulus wasn't exactly complaining, and he managed to find all the spots that made James Potter _beg_ in record time.

Lily found that waking up sandwiched between them both was even better than she had imagined, and that James was just as talented at messing up Regulus' hair as his own, and endeavoured to do so as regularly as he could. Regulus got him back by using his powerful hair styling charms to tame the untameable Potter locks with only a lazy flick of his wand.

James secretly liked it but he had a reputaion to maintain.

Once again their new relationship status opened up possibilities to the rest of Hogwarts and by the end of the school year, there were a few other publically polyamorous relationships around the castle. People in general were far less scandalised than Lily would have thought; apparently it used to happen a lot more in the past, but it was less common these days.

She was pleasantly surprised when Madam Pomfrey and Professors Sprout and Flitwick casually announced they'd been together for a number of years, even sharing a suite that Hogwarts had spontaneously opened for them; as Hogwarts was want to do. It had never been a secret, they simply liked to keep their private lives private.

On the train home the triad spent time exchanging sweet kisses and talking about the future and worrying over Regulus being at Hogwarts alone the following year. Sirius and Remus spilled into the compartment with two hours to go and they pulled out some firewhisky to commemorate their last year.

Lily couldn't believe they were finished.

Regulus announced he was proud of his loves and that they still had the summer to spend together. He was determined to make the best of it and make sure they thrived in their first year out in the real world.

Charlus and Dorea Potter met them at the station and Regulus was re-introduced to his cousin Andromeda and her daughter Nymphadora who would be starting at Hogwarts the following year.

Their cheery greetings were a little overshadowed by the grim Auror presence at the station, there to prevent one of the incidents they'd been reading about in the prophet all year.

Regulus almost crushed James' hand as he held on for dear life while they exited the station watched by many unwelcome eyes. News would undoubtedly get back to his parents and the Black Patriarch about their lost snake in the company of griffins.

Dorea Potter's cool glance swept over the station and her expression was sure to remind them that no matter their company a snake would always be a snake, and that they should keep their comments and their wands to themselves.

Lily parted ways with the group reluctantly. She was to catch the bus home because her sister, who she was staying with until she found a place of her own couldn't get off of work to meet her. Couldn't or wouldn't, it was still the same result. She didn't mind. The she pulled out her muggle headphones and put the talking heads into her walkman. The bus trip home gave her time to think and ponder the year she'd just had and her new relationships. To think that at the beginning of the school year she hadn't even been with Potter, barely admitting she even liked him! Now she had two pureblood boyfriends. It was a lot to take in.

During the summer they all discussed plans for the future and even managed to execute some of them. Remus, Sirius and Lily moved into a tiny flat in Diagon Alley above a bakery. Sirius adored it and made sure they had a muggle television and a gurgling coffee machine that made the worst brew Lily had ever tasted but she drank it anyway.

She may have charmed the machine a little when he was out of the room to spill the water a little slower so it didn't burn the grounds.

Sirius pretended not to notice the cardamom or cinnamon in all of her brews until Charlus Potter proclaimed his approval on a visit.

Regulus took a while to adjust to living with the rambunctious Potter family, but his affection for James and his new friendship with Dolly meant he took it in stride, using it as an opportunity to get to know his boyfriend better rather than believing he deserved any of it.

The Potters however, were nothing if not persistent.

He tried to hide his nightmares but Dorea was always there, giving him space when he needed it, but available to talk to when it got to be too much. He eventually learned to ask for hugs when he needed them, but that was a long time coming.

Her study became a safe harbour, she was a fellow Slytherin and a Black and she _made sense_. Regulus adored her.

His little cousin Nymphadora adored him of course. He took her to high class restaurants (albeit the ones who let blood traitors dine) and taught her the French names for things. He also told her how significant and wonderful her innate talent of metamorphism was. Her mother had already told her of course, and so had Sirius but Regulus was more of a scholar and somehow his insistence was the one that got through to her.

Sirius had already stolen a collection of books on the subject from the Black library but it was Regulus who read through them all and partook in even further research, tutoring Nymphadora in her gift as well as starting her on some foundational potions skills and learning the wand movements for a few basic charms with a pencil so that she would be ready when she went to school.

She introduced him to her father's jazz records, and the genre of rock and roll. Sirius complained that he'd shown him first, but Regulus simply had no idea how to handle David Bowie, though it did explain some things about his brother's sense of style. Andromeda had him over to teach him how to use oil paints and they sat and painted still life or the lovely rolling hills out the back of the Tonks' house.

He couldn't always get the paint off of his hands and it never failed to make James a little hot under the collar, and _his_ reaction never failed to inspire a reaction out of Lily.

Regulus' hair was still perfect, but she could tell he left the paint on his fingers and the charcoal smudges on his cheek on purpose when he knew he'd be seeing the Potter heir.

School started again and Regulus and little Dora were sent off on the train by Andromeda who was delighted that Regulus had taken such a shine to her daughter. He'd insisted on going with them to Diagon Alley to buy their school things and made sure she had an excellent wand and robes and equipment fit for a Black.

He'd also had a long list of supplementary books he insisted she bring, saying that although it was initially more work it would make things easier in the long run. By the time she took her N.E.W.T.S she would be having a far smoother time of it. Because he was about to take his N.E.W.T.S she had to admit he knew what he was talking about.

She was embarrassed that so many of her new classmates and friends had a crush on her older cousin, but she was grateful that he was willing to give up so much study time to continue tutoring her in her subjects as well as her gift. Apparently it wasn't just good for changing your nose, but could be put to use to affect her spells and potions in a way that no one else could. She was glad he was a Ravenclaw now so that she, a Hufflepuff was able to meet with him without anyone kicking up a fuss, though sometimes she caught the way Slytherins looked at him and worried.

Lily and James came to all of his quidditch games in Regulus' seventh year, and sometimes Lily saw James' winsome looks and wondered if he regretted choosing Auror training over the professional league. _She_ sometimes did; he'd be far more safe pulling stupid moves on a broom to score goals than he was out on the beat in the middle of the night fighting Death Eaters.

She got a job as a potioneer at the cute little apothecary in Hogsmeade, and Regulus was given visitation privileges as one of the perks of being Head Boy.

He still looked handsome in blue.

Regulus graduated with top scores and applied to apprentice at the Department of Mysteries. Lily moved on to at the big apothecary in Diagon alley and thought about her Mastery.

They were married the next summer and moved into the groundsperson's cottage tucked away in the garden on the grounds of Potter Manor.

Lily and Dolly taught Regulus to cook and he found it helped him with the stress and brain exhaustion after long days at the Department, and helped him wind down a little.

Lily was more than happy to help him wind down in other ways, sometimes not making it any further than the kitchen floor, which made them glad that they no longer lived in the main house.

They joined the Order of the Phoenix and Regulus worked with his Ravenclaw housemates Emmeline Vance, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadows to unpick the more complex dark secrets of Voldemort's plans and invent new curses and hexes to help Moody and the marauders (who all followed him around like puppies) bring Death Eaters into custody without resorting to dark magic themselves. The Order were grateful for Regulus' extensive knowledge of spell work that was closer to dark grey than light but this was war after all.

They figured out about the horcruxes completely by accident when Kreature had come to Regulus gasping and dying from a horrible potion with information about an object of terrible power guarded by a lake of undead.

This lead the boffins on a wild goose chase searching for horcruxes that had Lily stressing harder than she already had been while the rest of the Order kept the Death Eaters busy and distracted in London.

She didn't know whether her sudden desire to eat all of her feelings was because of her stress over everyone's safety or the tiny fetus growing inside of her womb.

They were told about a prophecy and they and a few other couples and triads who were due at the same time had to go into hiding. The Headmaster had suggested his home in Godric's Hollow but Regulus put his foot down and flat out refused to let them stay in a place that was literally named after 'Godric-get-yourself-killed-Gryffindor'.

He revealed he'd bought a small safe house in Italy a number of years before and had all kinds of protections on it. Of course the place was _gorgeous_ , if in need of a little bit of TLC. It was several centuries old and had four stories and a studio with a beautiful deep, tiled pool and an orchard but that was nothing really, he'd bought it with pocket money on a whim at the age of fourteen when he'd been visiting his Uncle Alphard Black who had spent a lot of time three towns over in the summers of Regulus and Sirius' childhoods.

He was dead now and no one else had ever known about Regulus' little acquisition.

The first time they made love in the house hadn't actually been in the house. Regulus had been showing them the garden and Lily paused in a spot that was just too beautiful for words. She felt completely overcome with the need to kiss her husbands, and then undress them, and then show them earthly delights in a place where it seemed to simply be the thing to do really.

Regulus looked like he had never quite dreamed anything so wonderful would happen to him in his little hideaway, and so James and Lily took him again just to be sure that he knew this was his life now.

Severus slipped into Italy from where he was quietly studying his Mastery in Poland to become the secret keeper and Remus cast the _fidelius_ perfectly.

He disappeared again after giving them his well wishes on the baby and insulting Remus' "sloppy wand work" even while he handed Lily the recipe for a brand new groundbreaking position called 'Wolfsbane'. Remus took it as the compliment it was.

He stayed with Lily in the house as an extra precaution while their boys went back to work in England, Regulus and Emmeline's skills with portkey magic making their commute remarkably easy. Remus' extra strong senses and protective instincts served as another layer of defence and it meant that he was safe from either side of the war taking advantage of his furry little problem. That furry problem felt very strongly about the new baby and Lily found herself inundated with gifts of rabbits and venison after every full moon.

He whiled away the days helping with the renovations to make the place child-proof and researching the differences in werewolf policy on the continent compared to Britain to stave off the boredom; Lily thought there was a probably book in it if they all survived. She made sure his meticulous notes were duplicated in triplicate and stored at gringotts so that he could fulfil that potential if they ever got out of the war.

She wondered if it would ever end.

She spent a lot of time crying and blaming it on her hormones.

She also blamed her desire to jump her husbands' bones anytime either of them were around on the hormones, but they weren't really complaining.

They joked that it took both of them to satisfy her insatiable appetites, but she knew she wouldn't be thinking about it so much if they weren't both heavenly creatures who knew just what to do with their tongues and fingers and _..._ other things that her catholic upbringing meant she still didn't say out loud but were able to hit her _just right_ in all of her hard to reach places.

James didn't want to admit out loud just _how_ extremely hot the view of his pregnant wife sucking his cock down while their beautiful husband drilled her from behind was, but it was probably the most amazing thing he'd ever seen in his life.

He sometimes had to hide in the loo for a wank during work hours at the thought of it.

He wondered if Regulus had to do that too.

He wondered whether the loos in the Department of Mysteries would be appropriate for a quick shag when he received an owl at the Auror department containing only a hand scribbled drawing depicting a cheeky view from behind their of lovely lovely wife and James' O face while she made him come.

As the drawing set itself on fire after it had burned itself into his retinas he thought it was probably not very appropriate, the unspeakables would probably know. He didn't know how they would know but they would.

Meanwhile Lily enjoyed the weather getting warmer and the scents of the flowers on the fruit trees and learned the wolfsbane potion by rote as she brewed it for Remus month in and month out in between making the herb garden suitable for a potions master, spewing her guts out, walking laps in the pool and laying on its edge like a seal while eating the gelato that their house elf Mippy made fresh every day.

She fell in love with the rambling house with its overgrown orchard and tiled floors and sun ripened tomatoes and olive oil and the mushrooms and the bread, _oh Merlin the bread_! From the local bakery.

She wondered what other people did during pregnancy when you couldn't pick up fresh cannoli from down the road in the village? Or have neighbours that pressed tiramisu into their hands when they went for groceries?

She wondered if she even wanted to move back to England at all once the danger blew over.

She wondered if it ever would.

Leo Hadrian Potter was born on a beautiful summer morning with untamable curly hair (unless Regulus was the one doing the taming); dusky coloured skin and bright green eyes and Regulus fell in love immediately.

His birth brought on a strategic retreat. Sirius, Regulus and James put in for time off and came home and they sealed the property in with blood wards and all sorts of grey magic found in books that Regulus and Sirius had smuggled from the Black Family library with the help of Kreature.

The poor old elf had been devastated he couldn't meet his favourite master's child but he seemed to understand that the Dark Lord knew who he was and that made it too dangerous, particularly as the child bore James and Lily's DNA but not Regulus', so Kreature didn't have a bond with him. There was a certain sharing of magic that happened in a conception in a relationship like theirs, but it wasn't enough for a house elf from Regulus' family to feel. Which though upsetting for the elf was a relief for everyone else. Regulus had been researching how to fake a house elf's death or humanely sever a bond.

Kreature didn't think he had it in him to reject Walburga though.

This was a shame, because it hurt Regulus more every time he saw the elf. Mippy was wonderful but Kreature had been there for him as a boy when no one else had. He wished he could be there for the elf in return.

The summer turned to autumn and the group heard rumour of a big plan among the Death Eaters. Sirius had gotten Peter to talk via methods he chose not to reveal. The Dark Lord wanted them gone, and he wanted to do it himself.

A few of the possible candidates from the prophecy, babies and their parents had been murdered throughout the UK. The Longbottoms had escaped by the skin of their teeth when Moldy Voldy had come to call. Alice had taken a curse to the back of the head and lay comatose in St Mungos watched over by Frank's mother while Emmeline Vance, Frank and baby Neville had embarked on a long winding journey via Poland to join the group in their secret home.

It was hard to watch Frank grieve and worry while trying to be strong for his son.

They all worried, Alice was the best kind of person, a most generous friend and gifted auror.

It soothed them and broke their hearts to watch Neville play in the garden, leaving a trail of healthy plants in his wake. He was such a lovely vibrant boy and Alice should have been there to watch him grow.

Dorkas and Marlene died while dealing with the last horcrux, some goblet of Helga Hufflepuff's which had been found in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts. They succeeded, but they'd had to resort to fiendfyre and it got out of hand when combined with unexpected dragon fire and destroyed its casters as well as the poor old dragon which they would have hated. Dorkas _loved_ dragons.

Regulus cried when he heard, the demise of his best friends was too much and he broke in the middle of dinner while feeding Harry on his lap. His tears drenched Harry's hair while the sweet child gently patted his papa's face, trying to comfort him.

Remus took the child into his arms while James and Lily gently tugged Regulus upstairs and wrapped him in a blanket, soothing him with kisses and quiet words and shared tears.

They'd all had moments like that over the years, moments where it grew too much to hold in anymore and they crumbled under the pressure.

It was a good thing they had each other in those times.

Voldemort was killed in a clash with Dumbledore, Alistair Moody and Charlus Potter of all people at Godric's Hollow on Halloween 1981.

The battle would later be lauded as rather a lot grander than it actually was, but where all attempts had failed before it was a richoched _avada_ from Orion Black's wand that took the old boy out. The shield it bounced from was Charlus Potter's, a mirror charm he'd been playing around with but he hadn't expected it to work with an _unforgivable_. He was a little bewildered at being called a hero for the rest of his life.

Ever James Potter's father, he hung his Order of Merlin up in the loo on the second floor of the manor.

Dorea laughed for about a week.

They heard that Orion Black was extremely embarrassed. He avoided Azkaban but was kept under house arrest and had to bear the brunt of Walburga's incessant disappointment for the rest of their lives.

It seemed to all like a bit of an anticlimax the way it happened, really.

The Potter-Black family stayed in Italy, having found it was too much of a home to leave for the moment. Lily and Remus had made friends with the locals, particularly a mercurial Potions Master who insisted she be called Nonna by the whole group.

She had originally come over with Lily when she'd gone into labour. Severus had been there to help with the birth and so was able to give her access and she stayed until Harry was delivered, yelling instructions to Severus through Remus, who had been learning Italian and was mostly fluent by then.

She kept coming back after that, having taken a liking to a bewildered Regulus to the amusement of everyone else. She fussed over him and plied him with advice for breastfeeding mothers and the best diet for Lily and bringing him gifts, which he had no idea what to do with.

She was full of useful information for all her fussing. She taught Remus how to preserve their extra tomatoes and eggplants for the winter. Then she taught him to make pasta by hand, and to rid their orchard of the over ripe fruit so they didn't end up with a fruit fly problem and the spells to cast over the garden to keep the birds away. She brought a grey kitten with green eyes from her neighbour's litter for Harry, and another, the prettiest little black cat for Regulus just because. James thought it was because Regulus hadn't been hugged enough as a child and so deserved a furry friend to give him cuddles all the time. As if he and Lily didn't shower him with affection any chance they got.

Regulus' new familiar took to portkeys and the Department of Mysteries quite well considering, and turned out to be very good at her job, riding around on his shoulders under his hair and alerting him every time he came across a cursed object or unhealthily dark thing, sometimes even fetching his dragonskin gloves for him if he tried to ignore her.

Lily had been begging Nonna for months to let her apprentice to her for her potions Mastership and after Regulus had petitioned her politely for the seventh time she had finally agreed to begin in the New Year; after Harry was weaned.

However with all the celebrating of the naked kind after the war, Lily fell pregnant again. Nonna grumbled and muttered before seeing how happy Regulus was at the news and decided that they'd start anyway on the condition that her apprenticeship would be longer and slower than normal, as some potions couldn't be made by a pregnant woman (though others were better for it) because it changed one's magic, and besides the children needed their mother even if they were lucky enough to have two capable fathers (She had actually said _one_ capable father and another father who was 'rather pretty she supposed' as she kissed Regulus on the cheek and handed him some chocolate, but James (who really _was_ rather pretty) hadn't been in the room and neither Regulus or Lily thought he needed to know).

Nonna liked to grumble but Regulus caught her beaming from the corner of his eye on multiple occasions and knitting a second baby blanket.

Dahlia Dorea Potter was born with silken black hair and impossibly long eyelashes over her silver eyes and had her mother's darling freckles scattered on her person like a constellation. Regulus, who had helped Lily deliver his daughter on Nonna's (far more patient) instructions while James cried was beside himself with joy.

James couldn't stop crying every time he thought of it and proudly told everyone he saw that he had the best wife and husband in the world and was _just_ _so_ _happy_.

Sirius spoiled the kids rotten and taught them to fly far too early and Remus began their education before they could even walk. They were trilingual (including parseltongue) by the time they moved back to England. Remus had earned the title of polyglot and had two books published to varying acclaim depending on how close to England one was.

When Harry was eight and Dahlia was seven they moved back into Potter Manor with Charlus and Dorea so that the children's' grandparents could begin their education as pureblood heirs. They were both heirs, Harry of the Potters and Dahlia was heir of the House of Black until Remus and Sirius conceiving through a surrogate was confirmed as possible and as such there were many things they wouldn't be learning at Hogwarts that they simply needed to know.

Sirius and Regulus' father Orion had died earlier that year, murdered by Walburga who was sent to Azkaban for her troubles and the two estranged Black sons discovered that they hadn't been legally disowned after all.

It was a hard revelation to hear but as Sirius set about the mammoth task of restoring the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black to something they could be proud of, Regulus took up the seat for the House of Black on the wizengamot right next to James' seat for House of Potter as Charlus decided it was a good time to retire and spend all his time with his grandchildren and let James do all the work.

The husbands found there were quite a lot of changes they would like to bring to the British Wizarding world. Living with a werewolf in Europe had revealed a significant amount of blemishes in the British Ministry's way of doing things, and they went to work immediately.

They found that since they'd been gone there had been even more horrible laws snuck through after the war to restrict the rights of werepeople and other creatures such as house elves, centaurs, leprechauns and veela, and so they got to work. They were able to use existing allies such as Amelia Bones and Frank Longbottom who had also taken up his family seat and made new ones such as Lords Fortesque and Ollivander who had been trying to bring in reform like theirs for years. With the combination of James' guileless charm and trickster skills and Regulus' sharp wit and powerful logic as well as knowledge of their enemies from his time learning at Orion Black's feet they were able to win more motions than they lost.

The first changes meant that Remus was able to apply for a position as Professor in Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and they were all grateful that the curse over the position had been been broken when its caster Tom Riddle had perished.

When Harry started at Hogwarts he was comforted to know that his godfather would be there too and it would all be alright, because family would be near.

The next year when Dahlia started Lily accepted an offer for the position of Potions Professor, and her husbands came to stay in her teacher's suite on the weekends and whenever the wizengamont wasn't in session.

They always stayed in Italy for the summer, and Christmas was always held at Potter manor.

Sirius and Remus became fathers the next year, and Artemis Canis Black was raised with the joint effort of their happy family and the Hogwarts House Elves who were thrilled about there being a baby in the school that they could spoil rotten.

Harry and Dahlia, the children of not one but two renoundly talented quidditch players were of course _brilliant_ fliers. Harry became the youngest Seeker in a century for the Gryffindor team and Dahlia regularly gave him a run for his money for the Ravenclaws.

Harry decided on making a career of it and married his teammate on the Holyhead Harpies, a truly gifted chaser who had shared a few classes with his sister at Hogwarts, Ginny Weasley.

Dahlia, who had taken an interest in magical creatures at a young age, surprised everyone by eloping with Ginny's far older brother Charlie in the marriage office at the Romanian Ministry for Magic during her apprenticeship as a dragon tamer at the age of eighteen.

Regulus was privately thrilled and worked tirelessly to expedite his pre-existing plans for a small dragon sanctuary in Wales so that the fiery couple could pursue their passions a little closer to home.

Artemis surprised no one when they became the minister for magic after apprenticing with Amelia Bones.

Lily, James and Regulus continued work hard at their various pursuits and holiday in Italy in the summer, and they often professed just how happy and content they were with their life.

Regulus may have almost died in his sixth year by outing himself as a muggleborn loving blood traitor, but he never once regretted it.

And in the end the world was better off for it. Lily and James certainly weren't complaining.

And they lived happily ever after...

 _and that is all. I have agreat number of HP fics on the go including_

 _regulus black x james potter_

 _regulus black x hermione granger (x 3)_

 _george weasley x padma patil_

 _george weasley x minerva mcgonagall_

 _charlie weasley x hermione granger_

 _theodore nott x hermione granger (x 2)_

 _one where harry is raised by regulus, sirius and severus snape_

 _I think that's all but as you can see, it's a lot._

 _I also have a great many mcu fics on the go over at ao3 so if you would like to read them hit me up._

 _anyway thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this pile sof setimentalism_


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